


Reasons Why Yusuf Loves His Cats (The Adventures of Yusuf and Cat)

by averysubtleart



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Crack, Fluff, Kittens, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-05
Updated: 2012-09-05
Packaged: 2017-11-13 14:49:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/504670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/averysubtleart/pseuds/averysubtleart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yusuf loves his cats very, <i>very</i> much. This is just one of the reasons why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reasons Why Yusuf Loves His Cats (The Adventures of Yusuf and Cat)

**Author's Note:**

> The idea originated when me and thismeanshardy (on tumblr) were having a conversation about the scene when Yusuf turns around and says, "DID YOU SEE THAT?" but everyone's asleep.
> 
> This one's for you, Eve!

People say that Yusuf treats his cat poorly. They say he likes to experiment the theory of a cat having 9 lives, which is why it always appears dead and unmoving whenever they see it.

Or, in severe terms, he likes to poison his cat.

The thing is, though, Yusuf begs to differ. He thinks he doesn't mind getting on his knees and kowtow to them, these people who don't know _anything_ at all, just to get them to just shut up about his cat, and oh, I don't know, make some tea for your papa or something and be an obedient child, now there's a love.

There are reasons why Yusuf keeps cats, and this is just one of them. Yusuf loves his cat _s_ (note the plural) very, _very_ much.

*

The grand story of how Yusuf met Leela the cat (as how Yusuf tells it) isn't all that grand at all, really. There isn't the heroic rescue where he jumps in front of a car to save the feline. Neither is there the single manly tear that falls from the corner of his eye just by looking how pitiful the creature is.

Here is the truth:

Yusuf has a particular fondness for cats to begin with. One day, he's dumping shards of broken flasks in the dump and there's Leela, fur and bones and curled up in a foetal position as it makes a noise so quiet that Yusuf wouldn't have noticed if he didn't feel something tickling his ankle. There's a wave of fatherly instinct, and he scoops the kitten up and brings it back to its workshop. The end. After that, he allows any stray cat who's wandered into his workshop to stay for the rest of it's life. 

Yusuf loves Leela the most, even though she's a weird cat. He doesn't exactly remember what happened, but Leela likes being his test subject. Leela _wants_ to be his test subject. And... Well. Yusuf does it willingly.

It involves pipettes with liquid, success, a need to test it out, a furry tail or kitty eyes, drops of suspicious liquid into a water bowl, a satisfied mewl and waiting. Warning: success not guaranteed.

_Anyway_ , Leela seems to like the PASIV device too. When Yusuf goes under for pilot tests, Leela always manages to get her furry body on his tummy and rests there, a proprietal mark of territory. Which is why she's always the last image he sees before the feeling of vertigo hits him and tells him he's in a dream and consequently, he finds her in the dream too.

There's once when he's testing for the compound's effect on the dreamer's age in relation to their memories. It's quite a success, this one, when Yusuf finds himself as a boy at 7 running to the playground in his childhood. What he doesn't expect is that Leela's waiting for him at the playground. Young Yusuf scrambles up the stairs and lets himself glide down the slide, bubbles of giggles rising in his throat an-

He reaches the foot of the slide and there lies Leela, a black and white ball of fur and she swishes her tail languidly, claiming her spot on the slide. Young Yusuf cocks his head slightly, staring at the cat until there's a sense of familiarity. "Leela?" He asks in his boy voice. 

The cat continues swishing its tail and Young Yusuf reaches out tentatively and pets it. He's delighted when it nuzzles into his touch and gives a contented purr. Young Yusuf giggles again and scoops Leela up, bringing them to other parts of the playground.

*

There's another time when Yusuf is really, really curious and wants to experience firsthand the effects of alcohol and Somnacin when both subtances are running through his bloodstream at the same time.

It's... _Bizzare_.

He goes under for 5 minutes when he's heavily drunk on the moonshine he concocts in his basement and there's a lump of black and white on his belly. That's really nice, he thinks as the world goes black, whoever who brought a hot towel for h-

He finds himself in what seems like an LSD induced swirl of colours, purple and green and blue and black. He can't really see what's going on, but then the world starts thudding with heavy beats. It makes a nice vibration in his chest and Yusuf finds a rhythm to it, starts dancing and- _oh, is that Bollywood?_

He claps, spins, sings off tune and dances across the dancefloor with a grin, where there's a bunch of people crowded round something. There are cheers, and Yusuf decides to go a little closer to see what's going on, pushes and shoves his way past people to the centre.

This is what registers in Yusuf's mind:

There is a cat.  
The cat is on 2 ~~feet~~ paws.  
The cat's front legs are pumping into the air.  
The cat has sunglasses on.  
The cat looks like it's owning the dancefloor.  
The cat is black with white stripes.  
The cat is dancing.  
The cat looks familiar.  
The cat is now doing the moonwalk.

On impulse, Yusuf joins the cat and does the moonwalk in the opposite direction as the cat. 

The crowd cheers.

*

"Leela, you've got to stop appearing in my dreams!"

Said feline swishes her tail and prowls away. Yusuf drops his face into his palms.

*

This time, Yusuf isn't on Somnacin, but he's dreaming all the same. It's been quite some time he's got a natural dream, hell, it's been quite some time he actually slept without tea or Somnacin.

There's a sense of déjà vu, it's like everything's happened before. He's in a van, trying to shake off a bunch of random thugs that's been chasing him on motorcycles. With guns. Yusuf weaves in and out of the traffic and when he sees one of them get knocked down by a speeding taxi, he sticks the finger out of the window.

Ah, it's a replay of inception.

"Ha ha, bloody ha," he mutters to himself. He about to drive into an empty highway when he sees a black SUV gaining on him and another motorcycle driving alongside. He takes a sharp left turn and the battered white van bounces down the slope. Yusuf's trying really hard to prevent his head from smashing into the steering wheel.

When all has stabilised, he whips around, adrenaline pumping through his veins. "Did you see _that_?" He gasps, a smile breaking through his face. There's a beat of silence, before the disappointment that creeps up in his spine is not so much of the silence that he encounters, but the more of the stark emptiness of the passenger seats.

Yusuf's face falls and he's about to turn back to the front and continue driving when there's a small noise from the back of the van.

"Meow," says the sound.

It doesn't take him anything to recognise the sound as Leela's. The lump of black and white fur jumps from the back and lands neatly into the seat adjacent to his. Yusuf turns to his right and ruffles her coat, a grin lighting up his face. Somehow, that simple act makes him feel warm and fuzzy all over. He's been told his compounds are the best, that he's one of the best chemists available, but this? It's probably one of the very rare times he's appreciated for something outside work. It's silly to get all sentimental when a cat acknowledges the badassery behind your driving skills, he knows, but who's to judge?

This is why Yusuf loves his cats. Very, _very_ much.


End file.
